Artaxerxes I

Artaxerxes I ruled Egypt from 465 BC to 424 BC, with dates known within a year, representing a long reign of forty-one years within the Twenty-seventh Dynasty. He came to the throne after the assassination of his father Xerxes I and faced immediate challenges across the empire. In Egypt, a major insurrection broke out under the local Libyan leader Inaros, who was supported by a fleet sent by Athens. The rebellion consumed Lower Egypt for several years before the Persian general Megabyzus defeated the rebels and re-established imperial authority.

Artaxerxes ruled remotely from Persia, with the day-to-day administration of Egypt managed by his appointed satrap in Memphis. Little construction was carried out in Egypt during his reign, and the king was buried at Naqsh-e Rostam in Persia. Egyptologists document his reign through official administrative papyri written in Aramaic and Demotic, as well as rock inscriptions left by quarrying expeditions in the Wadi Hammamat. He was succeeded by his son Darius II.

Monuments

• Wadi Hammamat inscriptions

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Try the name on the Cartouche Desk, or see where the reign falls on the timeline.